Page 45 - UTOPIA

from the rest, and then I shall signify nothing; or, if I agree
with them, I shall then only help forward their madness. I
do not comprehend what you mean by your ‘casting about,’
or by ‘the bending and handling things so dexterously that,
if they go not well, they may go as little ill as may be;’ for
in courts they will not bear with a man’s holding his peace
or conniving at what others do: a man must barefacedly
approve of the worst counsels and consent to the blackest
designs, so that he would pass for a spy, or, possibly, for a
traitor, that did but coldly approve of such wicked practices;
and therefore when a man is engaged in such a society, he
will be so far from being able to mend matters by his ‘cast-
ing about,’ as you call it, that he will find no occasions of
doing any good—the ill company will sooner corrupt him
than be the better for him; or if, notwithstanding all their
ill company, he still remains steady and innocent, yet their
follies and knavery will be imputed to him; and, by mixing
counsels with them, he must bear his share of all the blame
that belongs wholly to others.
‘It was no ill simile by which Plato set forth the unrea-
sonableness of a philosopher’s meddling with government.
‘If a man,’ says he, ‘were to see a great company run out ev-
ery day into the rain and take delight in being wet—if he
knew that it would be to no purpose for him to go and per-
suade them to return to their houses in order to avoid the
storm, and that all that could be expected by his going to
speak to them would be that he himself should be as wet
as they, it would be best for him to keep within doors, and,
since he had not influence enough to correct other people’s

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